Most cakes call for both physical fluffing which is accomplished by creaming the fats and sugars together, as well as chemical leaveners (baking powder or such). Is this needed. Why can't I just use baking powder?
Baking – Is both creaming and chemical leavening needed
bakingcakeleavening
Related Solutions
To make it vegan is simple:
- Replace the milk with any other kind of milk (soy, rice, hemp, etc.)
- Replace butter with some kind of margarine (I recommend Earth Balance, but just pick anything that doesn't have trans fats)
- Replace eggs with either commercial egg replacer, or apple sauce
As for making it moister, I have no idea.
It seems Hamantaschen cookies unfolding and leaking is not an uncommon problem. Of course the flax egg substitution can very likely also contribute to the unfolding but here are some tips from someone who has been baking Hamantaschen cookies for a while.
Tips for Creating Perfect Hamantaschen
1) Find a great dough recipe. Often, the problems people have with baking hamantaschen can be traced to an inferior dough. Here are two foolproof, tasty dough recipes that I highly recommend. They are easy to handle and shape, and they provide great results when baked:
Of course you can use your flax egg substituted in for the eggs that the recipes ask for.
2) Roll your dough out to 1/8 inch thick (or less). You want your dough to be as thin as possible, while still being thick enough to maintain the cookie’s structure. 1/8 inch seems to be the magic number; sometimes I roll mine out even thinner than that. For a more doughy texture you can roll it thicker, but remember– the thicker the dough is, the harder it will be to handle and shape. Thick dough is also more prone to opening/spreading in the oven.
3) Use a thick filling that won’t run/weep from the cookies while baking. Knowing the proper consistency of a hamantaschen filling takes experience, because each type of filling is slightly different. Poppyseed filling has a very different texture than fruit filling, for example. A good filling should be somewhat thick so that it doesn’t run.
4) Cut your hamantaschen dough in 3-inch circles (or larger) before filling and folding into triangles. Anything smaller than 3 inches will be difficult to fold around your chosen filling.
5) Most fillings can be chilled before using to fill hamantaschen. I’ve found that fruit, poppy seed, and cream cheese-based fillings tend to be easier to work with when they’re chilled in the refrigerator. The chilling process thickens the fillings and makes them less sticky, which makes them easier to handle with when you’re assembling your hamantaschen. Not all fillings are helped by refrigeration, however– particularly chocolate-based fillings like Nutella, which will harden with prolonged refrigeration. Check your filling recipe to see if refrigeration is recommended.
6) Do not overfill your hamantaschen. Use 1 teaspoon of filling per hamantaschen cookie. Do not use more than 1 teaspoon. However tempting it might be to put lots of delicious filling in the middle of your cookie, using more than 1 teaspoon can cause your hamantaschen to spread open and leak in the oven. 1 teaspoon is plenty, especially when you cut your dough circles to 3 inches… it’s the perfect amount of filling.
7) Fold your triangles the right way! Using the proper folding method will help your hamantschen hold together and create a beautiful shape.
Please that the sides are folded down so that each "side" has an "end" that is above and an "end" that is below in the fashion of folding the top of a box. This will help in preventing the cookies from unfolding.
Also note in Step 5, to pinch each of the 3 corners gently but firmly.
Source: http://theshiksa.com/2012/03/01/how-to-make-perfect-hamantaschen/
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Best Answer
Depending on what you are making, you can easily use just one of the mechanisms to create tiny air bubbles in your finished product. On one end of the spectrum are for example pancakes: you mix just enough to ensure that the baking powder (or soda) is distributed well enough, then bake. On the other side we have sponges that work fine with just a base of beaten eggs and sugar.
A rich pound cake is something like a middle ground: it will actually work even without chemical leaveners, provided the fat and sugar were creamed well, but the baking powder is like an extra “boost”. But you need the creaming step for a simple reason: You need the solid fat to be soft and dispersed enough so that the gas from the baking powder can actually lift the batter and enlarge the existing tiny air bubbles created with creaming. And I find it difficult to think of ways to make a batter without softening the fat, simply because you need to mix the ingredients properly.
And finally: The amount of baking powder that you can add is limited. Use too much and it will negatively affect the cake’s taste.